bonanza

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*melh₂-
2. Ancient Greekμᾰλᾰκός (mălăkós)
3. Ancient Greekμᾰλᾰκῐ́ᾱ (mălăkĭ́ā)
4. Latinmalacia
5. Latinbonusinflu.
6. Vulgar Latin*bonacia
7. Spanishbonanza
8. English todaybonanza

Borrowed from Spanish bonanza (“dead calm, fair weather, good luck, rich lode”), from Vulgar Latin *bonacia (“lull, dead calm”), in turn from Latin malacia (“calm sea”), influenced by bonus (“good”) under the false impression that initial mal- is a derivate of malus (“bad”).

Words from the same roots